Alan Pardew has revealed that he wants to sign Darren Bent and Loic Remy as he seeks to bolster Newcastle’s attacking options next season.

The Magpies’ strikeforce looked limited towards the end of last season following the departure of Demba Ba to Chelsea. The club attempted to bring in Remy at that stage to share the workload with Papiss Cisse, but were pipped to his signature by QPR.

England striker Bent has been told he can leave Aston Villa after falling out of favour. He is currently training away from Paul Lambert’s first-team.

Pardew told the Northern Echo: “Both of those players are on our list. I make no bones about that.

“But they are under contract at other clubs. It’s difficult, you have to be careful. It’s nice for our fans to hear names, but I don’t want to disrupt other clubs’ preparations.

“We have a list of four or five strikers who will push Papiss Cisse, Shola Ameobi, Adam Campbell and Yoan Gouffran because that will be important next season.

“We do need two strikers. Last year, I didn’t think there was enough competition in that area for a Premier League team.”